Pad Thai and Bad Dates
by happyoreokidd
Summary: Families stick together through thick and thin. Besides, it's nothing some shitty pad thai can't fix.


Donna Paulsen couldn't say she was completely surprised when her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend) Mitchell broke up with her. Times were tough, and she herself knew she didn't have it in herself to be an acceptable girlfriend at the end of the day after all the people-chasing, client-calling, and Harvey-soothing shenanigans.

That still didn't smooth the sting of any other breakup, however. She had been looking forward to this dinner to get her mind off things, and could still feel her stomach drop after she heard him say, "Look, this has been great.."

Hours later, she was soaking in her tub with some jazz thrown on and a tub of low-fat ice cream (she had been through this _many_ times before), feeling a bit sorry for herself. After more than 40 years of life, Donna Roberta Paulsen found herself single yet _again_ for the umpteenth time. Through the years, she had actively ignored the fact that her breakups became more frequent after she started working as a certain someone's secretary.

The thing was, as bitter as she was, she knew she had nobody but herself to blame for her current predicament. Donna knew her self-worth, knew for a fact that she was pretty, cunning, and funny enough to already have settled down by now. But ultimately, it was all her own fault. While she criticized Harvey for being a boy in a candy store and having absolutely no idea what he wanted, she herself had her eyes on the prize and refused to look elsewhere in the small chance that prize would become hers.

But even as she took the courage to acknowledge it and try her best, especially in the past year, to put it in her past, her relationships still ended in a similar fashion.

 _Damn Harvey and his unparalleled, diamond-cutting jawline._

This worst part was, she really couldn't confide in anyone about what had happened tonight. There was no way she was going to bring up such petty business to Rachel, who was still struggling with not being able to see her _fiance._ She never talked to Jessica about these things, and was not planning on doing so anytime soon. Mike was unavailable. She was pretty sure she would just scare him off even more. And she didn't dare even think about what would happen if she told Louis.

At this rate, she'd be alone forever with no other option. Maybe she should just invest in a cat now so she could establish a bond and they could grow old and die happy together.

Donna chuckled to herself at the thought and shook her head. It was ridiculous to be thinking this way. She was more of a dog person anyway.

That was all the time she allowed herself to wallow in self-pity before she got up from the tub and smirked in self-satisfaction at her mirror. She may have been on the older range of eligible bachelorettes in New York, but she was proud of the way she had maintained her body through the years and was pleased with the fact that any man would be lucky to see her naked.

With her head held high, Donna Paulsen got her night's rest and walked into Pearson Specter Litt the next morning looking more fierce than usual and ready to completely annihilate any complications that came in her way. She had taken a longer time to get ready, arming herself with a sharp lip color and Louboutins that screamed power, not unlike the ones she had worn that morning when she walked in after being fired and in return, fired Cameron.

"You seem happy today. Excited to see your gorgeous and handsome boss?" Harvey chirped with an obvious smile as he fell in step with her in the corridor right outside his office. They seemed to be walking side by side a lot more recently.

"On the contrary, Harvey," she shot back, "my boss is this hardass who finally let me get a good night's sleep." It was rare he was in a good mood these days, so she always took the opportunity to keep his playfulness going. They couldn't help their shit-eating grins as they stopped in front of her cubicle.

"Here's your coffee, drink it right now because you have a meeting with Jessica in seven minutes about the new tenants in the building,"

"You're the boss, Donna," he said, winking at her.

She was glad he had turned around so he couldn't see her blush. _Stop being such a sucker, Donna_. It didn't stop her from smiling, though.

* * *

The rest of the day continued on as usual. She answered millions of calls from clients demanding left and right, and she juggled and played ball with all of them flawlessly. Her day was going better than usual, having been able to go a whole hour and a half without thinking about Mitchell. It took all but one wrongly sent text message to have it all crashing down.

Mitchell [6:41:07]: hey baby, pick you up at 8? I got reservations for Gramercy Tavern, thought I'd make it up to you after my disastrous choice of location for our date last week x

She was appalled, for two reasons:

First, that dick Mitchell had started seeing someone else before he even had the balls to break up with her (Donna Paulsen was nobody's _safety net_ ) and

Second, he was taking his new bimbo to a restaurant that Donna herself had suggested when they went on one of their dates.

Was nothing sacred anymore? Gramercy Tavern was one of her all-time favorite places to eat and now it was going to be tainted by that cheater. All the high of getting all her work done was drained out of her instantly. She felt so used and pathetic. Despite knowing she wasn't completely committed to this guy, she had honestly tried, spending all her weekends and whatever free time she had with him. The least he could've done was be honest with her and managed the relationship right. If this was what all men in New York were like now, she actually had no hope left in ever moving on. She sighed.

Donna [6:45:12]: Wrong number, asshole.

There was no reply. She hadn't been expecting one.

She began counting the number of minutes before she could go home and find solace in her tub again, except this time without the jazz and classic Toni Braxton hits instead.

* * *

Eight o'clock couldn't come sooner. She popped her head into Harvey's office right as her computer clock changed.

"I'm heading home. See you tomorrow?" she purposely didn't leave him any room to protest.

"So soon?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. She panicked. She knew the last time she had left this early was for a date, and she didn't want to throw another complication at him. But she didn't have the heart to tell him the sad truth either.

"Uhm.. long night. Headache." she grimaced.

"Did you go drinking during the day? Are you hungover?"

"What! Harvey, did you not see the damage control I did with everyone today? News flash: the files are on your desk." she pointed her finger to a stack of files that had to be piled at least a foot high.

"Why do you have a headache then?"

"I don't know, not enough sleep?" she was flustered. Why did he care so much?

"That's not what you said this morning."

"I slept with my hair wet, then."

"It looks fine."

"Shows how much you know about taming this wild beast then. Harvey, are we done? I'm tired and I don't want to take part in your newfound desire to be a private investigator right now."

He squinted at her suspiciously. "Fine, go home. See you tomorrow."

She sighed in relief. With as much nonchalance as she could possibly muster, she made a break for the elevators and tried to calculate how much time it would take before she would be reunited with "Un-break My Heart".

* * *

 _Un-cry these tears_

 _I cried so many nights_

 _Un-break my heart_

 _My heart_

Damn, this woman could sing. Her lyrics were gut-wrenching.

Donna was currently in her tub again, feeling about the same as she did about 24 hours ago. This time she was mourning the death of the dating world, and the fact she would never meet a decent human being who would want her and not break her heart ever again.

 _Ding-Dong._

 _What the hell?_ She wasn't expecting anyone, and to be honest, was a little pissed at whoever had the audacity to ruin her alone time now.

With an aggravated groan, she dried and covered herself up with her robe before she padded to the door, thinking it could only be Mitchell asking for forgiveness or for another restaurant recommendation because the Gramercy Tavern hadn't worked out.

In either situation, she decided she would slap him.

Donna threw the door open, ready to let him have it, until she was stopped short of breath.

Standing in front of her in a Henley and jeans, was the boss she had so unexpectedly and unfortunately become her kryptonite.

"H-harvey?" she uttered after what seemed like a lifetime. "What are you doing here?"

He held up his arm, and it took her a while to register the familiar white bag, "NY BAD THAI". The restaurant was so shitty, they couldn't even spell "Pad Thai" right, nor had they bothered to fix it. "I brought you dinner," he smiled cheekily.

"Why? Thai food doesn't cure a headache." She crossed her arms, getting defensive.

"Look, Donna, in all our 12 years of working together, I know you've got me figured out to the T. You, however, have not noticed that I have also been staking you out during all our times together and have learned a few things myself."

"Oh really?" she questioned, skepticism apparent. She couldn't remember a time where her right eyebrow had been cocked so high.

"Yes, really." he walked in as she opened the door more. "When you wear a Valentino, it means 2 things: you either got laid by someone really really hot or have had something embarrassing happen to you but you're moving on from it."

She was appalled, but he wasn't finished. "It was red, meaning you were in a "if you fuck with me I will throw you off the roof" so I deducted the situation was the latter, because if you had gotten some, the color would be black because you would be feeling seductive and alluring instead. Your shoes give no indication, because they're all high and somehow you can run in them and that actually makes me a little scared of you and all the women in this firm, actually."

"Wow, Harvey, by the way you know all my fashion, I'm starting to think you swing for the other team." She refused to allow herself to be completely blown away from his analyzation, so all she could think of to do was to insult him.

"Ha-ha. Very funny. We all know I'm an observant woman who knows what a woman likes. Anyway, the next question was what happened. Judging from the impossible amount of work you got today, you were feeling vengeful, because you were having no mercy with all the clients when they called. So you had clearly developed a vendetta against someone."

"Maybe I'm just a good secretary," she retorted, now a little embarrassed. This was getting ridiculous.

He ignored her. "But your productivity also decreased towards the end. You only got one file done in the past hour, which made me think something happened right before then that got you distracted. My last clue was that you left early. You're not very good at lying, Donna, because I knew your head was fine, otherwise my tylenol stash in my left desk drawer _which I know you use sometimes when you day-drink with Rachel_ would have been ransacked by then, which it wasn't. And then, when you left, I couldn't help but bump into your computer and see the page "HOW TO CANCEL GRAMERCY TAVERN RESERVATIONS" open?" His smile was nothing short of the Chesire Cat by now. Donna had to refrain from punching him.

"Bullshit!" she gasped. "I did not leave that open."

"Okay, so maybe I clicked on the Internet icon. But then I thought, why would Donna want to lose the opportunity to eat at her favorite places? Heavens knows having to eat alone never stopped her.

 _Shit. When had Harvey cared so much about her?_

"You don't have a headache," he concluded, "so tell me, did you or did you not just go through a breakup with your boyfriend Mitchell, who then has a date tonight with someone else at Gramercy Tavern after you recommended the place to him?"

"Harvey!" she was at a loss of words. Her world had been turned upside down.

His grin turned lecherous in a playful way as he turned his eyes to his chest, "Say no more. Your right boob is already enough."

Amongst shifting uncomfortably at Harvey's monologue, Donna had failed to remember she was in a robe that was very loosely tied, hence her current nip-slip.

She turned around in a flash, sure that her face was as red as her hair. She was surprised she hadn't died of embarrassment.

"What are you doing here, Harvey?" she asked her bookshelf, exasperated.

"Look, we're all going through a lot. And I can't help but feel that it's my fault,-"

"It's not like that-"

"-because I always make you work so hard and take up your time with you complaining, especially now. So please, can you just let me be there for you while we eat this shitty thai place?"

She huffed in indignation. "Only if we never mention my robe malfunction for the rest of the night."

He pouted. "But they're so perky."

"Harvey, I SWEAR TO-"

"Okay, okay. No talks about nipples. Is this a bad time to mention your robe is also really short-"

He didn't even seen the magazine coming until it made contact with his face.

He couldn't stop laughing.

* * *

And that was how Donna spent her night- eating shrimp, noodles, and bean sprouts, laughing at reruns of _Friends_ , with the person she wanted to be with most.

At the end of the night, she had somehow ended up with his arm around her, smiling at the fact that he had dared to make the move and that she had sworn his heartbeat had increased a little when she snuck closer.

"Donna, I should tell you something..." he murmured, as they were both about to fall asleep.

"What?" she responded drowsily.

"It turns out you can cancel Gramercy Tavern reservations if you make your voice high enough and girly enough to sound like a certain fellow named Mitchell..."

* * *

Another one! Please keep writing people! You're the ones that get me through the week and through 6 years of Darvey still not officially being a thing 33

PS i really appreciated all your comments for _The Art of Love_! Truly made my morning when I saw them, much love.

-happyoreokidd :D


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